Democratic New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker blamed President Trump for the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, claiming he is “sowing seeds of hatred in our country” and has not condemned white supremacy.
“We have moral bonds and fabric of our country. We have a president of the United States who is particularly responsible. My faith has this idea that you reap what you sow and he is sowing seeds of hatred in our country. This harvest of hate violence that we’re seeing now lies at his feet,” the Democratic presidential candidate told MSNBC on Sunday.
“When you have the president from the highest moral office in our land talking about ‘invasions’ and ‘infestations’ and ‘shithole countries.’ The kind of things that come out of his mouth. It harms the moral fabric of our nation. He is responsible,” Booker added. “He is responsible when he has taken no action whatsoever to even condemn white supremacy.”
Presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, who represented El Paso when he was in Congress, also blamed Trump for the shooting that resulted in 20 deaths and more than two dozen people wounded.
“There is an environment of it in the United States,” O’Rourke said. “We see it on Fox News, we see it on the internet, but we also see it from our commander-in-chief,” he continued. “He is encouraging this. He doesn’t just tolerate it, he encourages it, calling immigrants rapists and criminals, warning of an invasion on our border, seeking to ban all people of one religion. Folks are responding to this. It doesn’t just offend us, it encourages the kind of violence we’re seeing, including in my hometown of El Paso yesterday.”
In a manifesto that was reportedly written by the El Paso shooter, he wrote that he wanted to stop the “Hispanic invasion of Texas,” but also adds his bigoted beliefs “predate Trump and his campaign.”
Trump signed a resolution that condemned white supremacy in the fall of 2017.
“No matter the color of our skin or our ethnic heritage, we all live under the same laws, we all salute the same great flag, and we are all made by the same almighty God,” Trump said in a statement released by the White House.
